Perspectives on nominal construction in Moroccan Arabic

Nominal constructions pose a persistent challenge due to ambiguities in their internal structure and peripheral correlations. This study explores how the syntax-semantics interface mediates meaning configuration in Moroccan Arabic (MA) nominal constructions. I argue that MA nominals are derived through three cyclic phases: nP, KP, and DP. Each phase constitutes a domain of syntactic computation where features are valued. The nP phase hosts lexical categorization and φ-features (Carstens, 2000, 2011; Kramer, 2015), KP licenses structural Case (Ritter & Wiltschko, 2014), and DP determines definiteness and referentiality (Abney, 1987). This tripartite structure offers a principled account of agreement, Case, and definiteness patterns in MA.